An essential part of any Christmas dinner, these roast parsnips are easy make and they taste sensational.
Also, if you accidentally buy way too many parsnips (curse you online shopping), then be sure to make my spicy parsnip soup or my parsnip and carrot rosti with with mushroom and Wensleydale sauce.

Overhead image of Honey roast parsnips, topped with thyme leaves in a white oval bowl. The bowl is on a beige napkin and there is a glass jar of honey next to it.

We all seem to forget about parsnips the rest of the year, but Christmas dinner simply wouldn’t be the same without them.

You can roast them in the same tray as your roast potatoes, but they end up crunchier if you roast them on a separate tray. Plus, having a separate tray means you can drizzle them in honey too.

Easily cooked and ready while your turkey is resting.

📋 What do we need?

Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.

Parsnips – use large or medium parsnips, which can be peeled and chopped, or your can use young, small parsnips, which only need to have the ends chopped off.
Oil – use a high smoke point, neutral oil. Rapeseed or avocado oil works well.
Salt, pepper and honey for flavour
Fresh (or tried) thyme leaves – completely optional, but they compliment the parsnips really well.

👩‍🍳PRO TIP Don’t leave on the tray too long after cooking, as the sugars in the honey will make the parsnips stick.

Honey roasted parsnips laid out on a white baking tray and sprinkled with fresh thyme

🍽️ What to serve it with

These parsnips are a great side dish for a roast dinner, or to serve with pork chops, beef stew or steak pie, but of course the most traditional way is to serve it with your roast turkey at Christmas.

Roast turkey on a white rectangular plate surrounded by side dishes.

I love cutting them into long lengths, rather than chunky cubes, as they look so much prettier and they cook faster too.

Honey roast parsnips, topped with fresh thyme leaves in a white oblong bowl. The bowl is on a light napkin on a wooden table and there is a jar of honey in the background.

🍲 More fantastic side dishes

Sides

Easy Cauliflower Cheese

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Overhead image of Honey roast parsnips, topped with thyme leaves in a white oval bowl. The bowl is on a beige napkin.

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5 from 1 vote

Honey Roasted Parsnips

By Nicky Corbishley

Easy honey roasted parsnips – no need to par-boil. You can roast them from raw!

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 35

Total Time: 45

Servings: 4

Course: side dish

Cuisine: British

Ingredients

▢ 500 g (17.5 oz) parsnips peeled and chopped into finger-sized pieces* see note 1
▢ 3 tbsp neutral oil e.g. rapeseed, sunflower or avocado
▢ ½ tsp salt
▢ ½ tsp black pepper
▢ 2 tbsp honey
▢ 1 tbsp freshly chopped thyme or 1/2 tsp dried thyme

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F (fan).
Place the chopped parsnips in a large roasting tin.
500 g (17.5 oz) parsnips
Drizzle over the oil and toss together to fully coat.
3 tbsp neutral oil
Spread the parsnips our evenly, in a single layer in the roasting tin, ideally so they're not touching each other (this will give the best crunch).
Place in the oven and roast for 20-25 minutes, turning once, about halfway through cooking, until lightly golden.
Sprinkle on the salt and pepper and drizzle over the honey, then toss together and place back in the oven for 8-10 minutes on rich golden brown in colour.
1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 2 tbsp honey
Serve immediately, topped with fresh thyme leaves.
1 tbsp freshly chopped thyme

Notes

*Note 1 – parsnip size

If your parsnips are young and quite small, you can just chop boths ends off and give them a quick wash – no need to peel.

If not serving immediately

If you’re wanting to keep the parsnips warm for a short while, whilst you finish cooking the rest of you meal, it’s a good idea to transfer them to a warm serving bowl and cover to keep warm.
If you leave them on the roasting tray for too long, they’ll stick, due to the sugar in the honey.

Prefer to cook them in the air fryer?

Toss the peeled and chopped parsnips with the oil, salt and pepper, then place in the air fryer basket and cooked at 200C/400F for 15-18 minutes, tossing every 5 minutes, until golden.
Drizzle honey on, then toss again and serve immediately (no need to cook with the honey on, as the air fryer may burn the honey).

Don’t want the honey?

Just leave it off and cook the recipe without.

Alternatively, if you did want to have the honey, but didn’t want to cook with the honey, you can drizzle the honey on at the end. The parsnips won’t be quite as caramelised, but will still taste great.

Nutritional information is approximate, per serving (this recipe serves 4).

Nutrition

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links – which means if you buy the product I get a small commission (at no extra cost to you). If you do buy, then thank you! That’s what helps us to keep Kitchen Sanctuary running. The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors. For more information please see our Terms & Conditions.

Comments

Alex Stenning says:

November 20, 2023 at 9:14 pm

Could you use maple syrup as I loathe honey. 🥴

Sam says:

April 14, 2023 at 11:39 am

Is it possible to prepare these in advance, freeze, then cook from frozen?

Kath says:

December 31, 2022 at 10:36 am

Thanks for giving instructions for cooking in the air fryer too, so handy when short on oven space.